Black Squares Research Articles

Diagnostic accuracy of posterior pole asymmetry analysis parameters of spectralis optical coherence tomography in detecting early unilateral glaucoma.

Purpose:To report the diagnostic ability of posterior pole asymmetry analysis (PPAA) parameters of spectralis optical coherence tomography (OCT) in detecting early unilateral glaucoma.Methods:A prospective, cross-sectional study which included 80 eyes of 80 normal subjects and 76 eyes of 76 patients with unilateral early primary open-angle glaucoma by Hodapp-Anderson-Parrish classification. All subjects were of age more than 18 years, best-corrected visual acuity 20/40 or better, and a refractive error within ± 5 diopter (D) sphere and ± 3 D cylinder. Control subjects had a normal ocular examination, intraocular pressure (IOP) <22 mmHg, no past history of high IOP, no family history of glaucoma, normal optic disc morphology, and visual field in both eyes. One eye of the control subject was randomly included. All eyes underwent OCT for retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) analysis and PPAA. The number of continuous black squares was noted in the asymmetry analysis (right-left + hemisphere asymmetry). The area under curve (AUC) was calculated for all OCT parameters.Results:The best value for AUC for RNFL analysis was 0.858 for the inferotemporal quadrant thickness. This was similar to the best value for AUC for PPAA which was 0.833 for the inferior macular thickness parameter (P = 0.5). The AUC for the right-left and the hemisphere asymmetry part of PPAA was 0.427 and 0.499, respectively.Conclusion:The macular thickness PPAA parameters were equally good as the RNFL parameters. However, the asymmetry analysis parameters performed poorly and need further refinement before its use in early unilateral glaucoma diagnosis.

“in that black or luminous square”: Windows as Sites of Imagination in the Writings of Proust and Beckett

This paper looks at Proust’s A la recherche du temps perdu and Beckett’s Malone Dies, investigating the figure of the diseased writer persona, confined and localised within the bed space, who gazes out the window as a way of telling stories. Looking at Walter Benjamin’s essay on Proust and life-writing, I examine representations of windows in Proust’s novel as a way of framing the distance and proximity between fact and fiction, self (who narrates) and other (who is narrated). Beckett’s narrator, on the other hand, unearths the anxiety of death implicit in Proust’s project of life-writing, threatening to silence speech and leave the author’s work incomplete. Here, windows are markers of blockage, calling to mind Lacan’s conception of the mirror stage, whereby Malone regresses and submits to a claustrophobic, bed-ridden existence, aligned by his narcissism. I argue, then, that both writers distend the narrative form of the novel, but whereas Proust’s narrator-I sees writing as a way of recovering life, Beckett’s post-modern narrative is haunted by an urgency to encode absence, negation and death. To read or download this article, please follow this link: http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1469467/ DOI: 10.14324/111.2057-2212.016

Zeolite-like Arabinose-based Coordination Polymers: Synthesis and Characterization for Heavy-Metal Sequestration Applications

L–Arabinose-based coordination polymers were synthesized by the oxidation of L–arabinose using warm HNO3 to form arabinaric acid and allowing the resulting arabinaric acid to react with the different metal ions such as zinc(II), lead(II), copper(II), iron(III), and chromium(III). Only zinc(II) and lead(II) ions produced crystalline coordination polymers suitable for analysis while copper(II) produced a gummy solid. Preliminary characterization of the coordination polymers was based on their solubility, melting points, UV–Visible spectra, and infrared spectra. The coordination polymers were insoluble in common organic solvents and in acidic aqueous solutions but soluble in moderately basic aqueous solutions (pH 12). The zinc(II) and lead(II) coordination polymers have melting points above 300°C while the copper(II) polymer melts from 218–225°C. UV–Visible spectra showed that these polymers have maximum absorption in the ultraviolet region. Zinc(II), lead(II), and copper(II) arabinarate coordination polymers had maximum absorbance at λmax = 217 nm, λmax = 240 nm, and λmax = 220 nm, respectively. The infrared spectra of the coordination polymers indicated the association of the arabinarate ligand with the metal ions. Introduction and incorporation of molecular species such as azobenzene and molecular iodine to the coordination polymers were also investigated. Infrared spectra obtained from the azobenzene inclusion experiments showed additional infrared absorption bands below 1000 cm –1 implying absorption of azobenzene within the polymers. Iodometric titrations also confirmed the inclusion of iodine in the coordination polymers. The potential of the coordination polymers to incorporate lead(II) ions in aqueous solutions was also investigated using column elution of different sample concentrations of lead(II). Atomic Absorption Spectrometric analysis illustrated significant lead reduction of up to 80.70 ppm of lead(II) on the eluted samples. Introduction Rapid industrialization in the modern world today causes severe pollution in the environment. This may be due to toxic, inorganic, or non-biodegradable materials released to the environment as waste products during industrial processes. Heavy metals, like lead, are among the most harmful of the environmental elemental pollutants. Lead contamination from excessive exposure has been found to cause several health hazards and long term detrimental effects. Prominent conventional processes for the removal of lead from aqueous mixtures, such as sludge separation, chemical precipitation, and electrochemical treatments are relatively expensive and can cause secondary pollutants (Manahan, 1993 as cited in Acabal et al., 2000). Due to the problems of pollution, “green” industrial productions of compounds and their derivatives based on renewable starting materials and biodegradable products are developed (Kiely, 2001). Carbohydrates are biodegradable, widely available, and generally economical. Hence, their study for chemical and industrial applications would be very sensible. Because of their ease in functionalization forming sugar derivatives, they could serve as valuable building blocks for potentially useful polymers (Abrahams et al., 2003). Heavy metal sequestering properties of certain types of these polymers provide an alternative and potentially economical treatment process for heavy metal removal and recovery.

Development and evaluation of a visual aid using see-through display for patients with retinitis pigmentosa.

Patients in the early stage of retinitis pigmentosa (RP) suffer from night blindness and, therefore, have mobility problems at night. To assist such patients with walking in the dark, we developed a wearable visual aid utilizing a see-through display upon which assistive images from a high-sensitivity video camera are superimposed. We evaluated the efficacy of our new visual aid for RP patients. The device is equipped with a camera with a minimum illuminance of 0.08 lux and a view angle of 53°×40°. The experiment was conducted in a room with dimmed light (illuminance level 0.2-1.2 lux). Eight subjects with RP were instructed to arrive at a goal 16m away from the starting point, both with and without the device, passing through four 1.5-m-wide gates consisting of pairs of black square carpet pieces, white poles, red and white traffic cones and cardboard boxes with and without the device in a darkened room. Three gates, except for the boxes, which were nearest the goal, were randomly arranged along the x-axis at each trial. The number of trial failures and the time required to walk the course were assessed as outcomes. Seven of the 8 subjects could walk with the aid of the device without any failure. With the device, the number of trial failures significantly decreased in number (p<0.05) in all subjects. This device enabled the subjects to see objects that could not be recognized by the unaided eye. Our visual aid effectively assisted RP patients with night blindness.

A contrast and surface code explains complex responses to black and white stimuli in V1.

We investigated the cortical mechanisms underlying the visual perception of luminance-defined surfaces and the preference for black over white stimuli in the macaque primary visual cortex, V1. We measured V1 population responses with voltage-sensitive dye imaging in fixating monkeys that were presented with white or black squares of equal contrast around a mid-gray. Regions corresponding to the squares' edges exhibited higher activity than those corresponding to the center. Responses to black were higher than to white, surprisingly to a much greater extent in the representation of the square's center. Additionally, the square-evoked activation patterns exhibited spatial modulations along the edges and corners. A model comprised of neural mechanisms that compute local contrast, local luminance temporal modulations in the black and white directions, and cortical center-surround interactions, could explain the observed population activity patterns in detail. The model captured the weaker contribution of V1 neurons that respond to positive (white) and negative (black) luminance surfaces, and the stronger contribution of V1 neurons that respond to edge contrast. Also, the model demonstrated how the response preference for black could be explained in terms of stronger surface-related activation to negative luminance modulation. The spatial modulations along the edges were accounted for by surround suppression. Overall the results reveal the relative strength of edge contrast and surface signals in the V1 response to visual objects.

Ad Reinhardt: Mystic or Materialist, Priest or Proletarian?

Ad Reinhardt remains an active problem, as recent developments in his scholarship shed new light on earlier perplexities in his reception. Specifically the leftist materialist reading of Reinhardt's “difficult” black square paintings (1960–67) as engaged in modernist negation needs to be pressed further. The series should be taken as an object lesson in Marxist dialectics where the play and reversal of the categories of alienated versus free activity in labor and work, identity versus nonidentity in the social object as exchange-value or use-value, and art versus life within bourgeois aesthetics ultimately aim at a critical, materialist demystification of art.

Ad Reinhardt: Painter-as-Writer

Unlike his paintings, Ad Reinhardt’s writings remain unstudied and largely unpublished. Scholars have approached his literary output as a subsidiary product, accepting at face value his insistence on the separation of art and life (and, by implication, art and writing). Even those who acknowledge the significance of the painter’s texts do so mainly because of the texts’ informational content (autobiographical, historical, theoretical, and philosophical). No scholar to date has methodically studied them as works of literary art, which they clearly are, especially when looked at as analogues to Reinhardt’s paintings, particularly those in his black square series. The essay investigates the interplay of Reinhardt’s visual sensibility and verbal dexterity and draws parallels between his permutational purgative methods employed in painting and the meticulous verbal procedures applied in crafting his texts on art. Experimenting with inflection and forms, Reinhardt challenged and subverted conventions and establ...

Theory of multilayer woven structures

Multilayer woven fabrics are conventionally represented with the usual weave notation of black and white squares. This notation is based on the top view of the woven fabric. Side view of multilayer woven fabrics contains more important information, namely the routes of warp yarns between layers of weft yarns. In this study, possibilities of woven structures with any numbers of layers and corresponding warp and weft yarns are described. Formulas are derived to describe horizontal, vertical, and diagonal symmetries which lead to identify the fully independent structures. The results serve as the theoretical ground to determine all the possible mechanical properties by using woven reinforcements.

A Quick Test of Cognitive Speed: norm-referenced criteria for 121 Italian adults aged 45 to 90 years.

ABSTRACT Background: A Quick Test of Cognitive Speed (AQT) is a brief test that can identify cognitive impairment. AQT has been validated in Arabic, English, Greek, Japanese, Norwegian, Spanish, and Swedish. The aim of this study was to develop Italian criterion-referenced norms for AQT. Methods: AQT consists of three test plates where the patient shall rapidly name (1) the color of 40 blue, red, yellow, or black squares (AQT color), (2) the form of 40 black figures (circles, squares, triangles, or rectangles; AQT form), (3) the color and form of 40 figures (consisting of previous colors and forms; AQT color-form). The AQT test was administered to 121 Italian cognitively healthy primary care patients (age range: 45-90 years). Their mean Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score was 28.8 ± 0.9 points (range 26-30 points). AQT naming times in seconds were used for developing preliminary criterion cut-off times for different age groups. Results: Age was found to have a significant moderate positive correlation with AQT naming times color (r = 0.65, p < 0.001), form (r = 0.53, p < 0.001), color-form (r = 0.63, p < 0.001) and a moderate negative correlation with MMSE score (r = -0.44, p < 0.001) and AQT naming times differed significantly between younger (45-55 years old), older (56-70 years old), and the oldest (71-90 years old) participants. Years of education correlated positively but weakly with MMSE score (r = 0.27, p = 0.003) and negatively but weakly with AQT color (r = -0.16, p = ns), form (r = -0.24, p = 0.007), and color-form (r = -0.19, p = 0.005). We established preliminary cut-off times for the AQT test based on +1 and +2 standard deviations according to the approach in other languages and settings. Conclusions: This is the first Italian normative AQT study. Future studies of AQT - a test useful for dementia screening in primary care - will eventually refine cut-off times for normality balancing sensitivity and specificity in cognitive diagnostics.

Grain Boundary Controlled Electron Mobility in Polycrystalline Titanium Dioxide

Grain Boundary Controlled Electron Mobility in Polycrystalline Titanium Dioxide

(Invited) Enhancing the Deep Ultraviolet Performance of 4H-SiC Based Photodiodes

High sensitivity deep ultraviolet (DUV) photodetectors sensitive at wavelengths shorter than 280 nm are useful for various applications, including chemical and biological identification, optical wireless communications, and UV sensing systems. State-of-the-art SiC APDs, employing a recessed top window, exhibit a high peak quantum efficiency (QE) of 60% at 268 nm, but the response of these devices diminishes at shorter wavelength due to increasing photo-generation of carriers in the top doped layer of this device, the short diffusion length of minority carriers in this doped region and the presence of a high density of surface states [1].In this paper we explore two approaches for increasing the DUV photoresponse of 4H-SiC photodiodes by increasing the collection of DUV- generated carriers near the surface through drift within the high E-field region. As a result, the photo-generated carriers are more efficiently collected and the impact of surface state recombination is reduced. These approaches include replacing the illuminated top doped SiC layer of the diode with (1) a transparent metal contact or (2) a doped wider band gap III-Nitride semiconductor structure that is transparent in the spectral range of interest.Figure 1 shows the measured unity gain spectral response of a p-n--metal 4H-SiC diode reverse biased at 30V and consisting of a 2 µm-thick p +-SiC layer doped 2x1018 cm-3, a 350 nm-thick n- -SiC layer lightly doped 5x1015 cm-3, and employing a thin 5 nm transparent Ni metal top contact (broken red line). The response for a typical p-n--n+-SiC diode consisting of a 2 µm thick p +-SiC layer doped 2x1018 cm-3, a 480 nm thick n- -SiC layer lightly doped 5x1015 cm-3, and a 100 nm thick n +-SiC layer doped 4.5x1018 cm-3 is provided for comparison (solid-black line). A nearly flat QE between 40-45% is observed for the p-n--metal detector between 200- 270 nm that exceeds the performance of the conventional p-n--n+ diode for wavelengths shorter than 235 nm despite absorption losses within the metal contact across the spectral range of ~40-50%. This enhancement is attributed to improved collection of photogenerated carriers through drift within the high E-field region despite the presence of surface states. This conclusion is supported by modeling the expected photocurrent in the p-n- -metal (red open circles) and conventional p-n--n+ (black open squares) diodes. An alternative approach that can reduce absorption losses in the spectral range of interest is to employ a transparent III-Nitride semiconductor n-type doped layer. Figure 2 shows the measured spectral response of a photodiode having a 2 µm-thick p +-SiC layer doped 2x1018 cm-3, a 350 nm-thick n- -SiC layer lightly doped 5x1015 cm-3, a 10 nm-thick AlN layer, and a 100 nm-thick Al0.85Ga0.15N layer. The devices exhibit a peak unity gain QE of 55-58% between 265-250 nm that diminishes at shorter wavelength due to absorption in the top AlGaN layer. Increasing reverse bias above 40V results in an increase in response peaking around ~ 250 nm that is associated with inhomogeneous gain at wavelengths shorter than 255 nm (Figure 2- top). This is attributed to increased absorption associated with valence to higher conduction band transitions in SiC that ensures that these photons are absorbed near the interface between SiC and AlN, where photo-generated holes will have maximum transit distance through the depletion region as well as the larger impact ionization rate for holes over electrons for SiC. Calculations of the expected gain vs. wavelength within a p-i-n SiC diode illuminated from the n- region for varying magnitudes of E-field in the depletion region show similar trends consistent with this interpretation (Figure 2 inset).[1] Liu H., Mcintosh, D., Bai, X., Pan, H, Liu, M., Campbell J. C., and Cha H, IEEE Photonic Technol. Lett. 20, 1551 (2008).

A CASE STUDY OF TWO PREMIERSHIP FOOTBALLERS WITH SICKLE CELL TRAIT USING NOVEL TESTS OF REDOX HOMEOSTASIS

BackgroundSickle cell trait (SCT) is considered a benign heterozygous carrier state (both normal haemoglobin and abnormal HbS) compatible with elite level sport, whereas the autosomal recessive state of sickle cell...

Selected Abstracts From Recent Publications in Cardiopulmonary Disease Prevention and Rehabilitation

Selected Abstracts From Recent Publications in Cardiopulmonary Disease Prevention and Rehabilitation

Changing Landscape and Disease-specific Considerations of Therapeutic Bronchoscopy in Clinical Trials

Changing Landscape and Disease-specific Considerations of Therapeutic Bronchoscopy in Clinical Trials

Reading (Between) Machine

Reading (Between) Machine Jessica Pressman (bio) Between Page and Screen. Amaranth Borsuk and Brad Bouse. Siglio Press. 44pages; paper, $24.94 http://www.betweenpageand-screen.com. For those who believe that the avant la lettres remain on the page, a recent work of multimedia literature can get you up-to-speed in playful and poetic ways. Amaranth Borusk and Brad Bouse’s Between Page and Screen is an augmented -reality book of poetry: a codex filled with QR (“quick response”) codes that trigger a networked Internet connection to produce concrete poetry between the space of the page and the screen. The work’s title suggests its technopoetic and pedagogical pursuit. Between Page and Screen is about the in-between, and it provides a bridge between pages and screens, poetry and games. It crosses over and comments upon the connection between machine reading and machine writing, between augmented reality and avant-garde literature. It pulls highbrows, academics, and intellectuals into the digital sphere, where others have been reading for a while now. And it does so with rich, rigorous poetics that model the future of the literary by demonstrating how machine writing can be very, very good. Every page of this finely made little letterpress-like book contains a QR graphic: a small black square comprised by a geometric pattern set against the stark white page. That’s it, there’s no text to read, just geometric shapes. The omnipresence of such images in our networked world—where they grace every commodity, from hammers to novels—has taught us that these data-imprints require a machine reader to translate them into content that can then be parsed by a human reader. When this little book is held up to a web-camera on the reader’s computer, and that computer is connected to the Internet, specifically to the URL associated with the book, then a digital connection is made between the QR code and www.betweenpageandscreen.com. The result is a projection of three-dimensional concrete poetry that appears, as if by magic, and beckons to be seen and read. Upon unleashing this poetry, the reader is struck by the notion that she is not the only reader involved in the processural poetic of Between Page and Screen. The work exposes the book to be a reading machine that, rather than standing in opposition to digital technology, can be purposefully connected to the Internet and its networked reading practices. Book-based QR-based literature is nothing new, and to share one example I’m going to shift from discussing American poetry to a lowbrow cousin that seems to occupy the opposite literary register: the Playstation WonderBook version of Harry Potter, Wonderbook: Book of Spells (2012). To dip down a little more, let me quote Jeff Rubin, host of the online show jeffrubinjeffrubinshow. com on “College Humor,” as he introduces the augmented-book. He describes Wonderbook: Book of Spells as representing “how the Playstation has improved books.” This statement is said tongue-and-cheek, for, as one of the casual but astute co-hosts then responds, “Great, it’s like a book you can’t read without plugging yourself into a television…the perfect book!” The couch-critics (they actually are sitting on a couch) then debate the genre of this Wonderbook: is it a game, a book, a “window”? The same questions could be posed about Between Page and Screen. The book’s publisher, Siglio Press, describes itself as “an independent press dedicated to publishing uncommon books and editions that live at the intersection of art & literature,” and it claims to publish works that “defy categories and thoroughly engage a reader’s intellect and imagination.” If Between Page and Screen is the result of this quest, then this little independent publisher just might just have more in common with Playstation than we might think. So, what do we see by positioning Siglio and Playstation side-by-side and reading between the pages and screens of the wonder books they publish? Isn’t it obvious? Both use QR codes to display the magic of reading, to invoke the potential spell a book can cast. Between Page and Screen is very much about...

Chemical trends of Mn4+emission in solids

Calculated Mn4+emission energies for various oxides as functions of Mn–O bond length. The experimental values are shown (in red) wherever available. There are three groups of materials: the ones with small O–Mn–O bond angle distortion (black squares), the ones with large O–Mn–O bond angle distortion (blue circles), and phosphates (green triangles). Weak Mn4+-ligand hybridization as a result of long Mn–O bond lengths and/or large O–Mn–O bond angle distortion generally leads to higher emission energies.

Black Square: Malevich and the Origin of Suprematism. By Aleksandra Shatskikh. Trans. Marian Schwartz. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012. xvii, 368 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Illustrations. Photographs. $35.00, hard bound.

Black Square: Malevich and the Origin of Suprematism. By Aleksandra Shatskikh. Trans. Marian Schwartz. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012. xvii, 368 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Illustrations. Photographs. $35.00, hard bound. - Volume 73 Issue 1

The Effect of Low versus High Approach-Motivated Positive Affect on Cognitive Control

The motivational dimensional model of affect, proposed by Gable and Harmon-Jones (2010), posits that approach motivational intensity of positive affect modulates the influence of positive affect on cognition. In line with this model, accumulating evidences have supported this hypothesis. Studies have found that low approach-motivated positive affect (e.g., serenity) broadens, whereas high approach-motivated positive affect (e.g., desire) narrows cognitive breadth, such as the breadth of attention, memory, and cognitive categorization. However, little is known about whether the influence of positive affect on cognitive control, which partly reflects the temporality of cognitive processes, is modulated by the approach motivational intensity of positive affect. Therefore, two experiments in this study were conducted to investigate this issue. In experiment 1, a modified stop-signal task was used to explore the influence of approach motivational intensity of positive affect on inhibition control. The stop signal task involved two concurrent tasks, a primary go task and a secondary stop task. The go task was a two-choice reaction time task that required participants to discriminate the location of black squares (2.4 cm × 2.4 cm) positing on the center of the left or right part of the screen. The stop task, which occurred pseudo-randomly and infrequently (25% of the total trials), involved presentation of a red circle (stop signal) that countermanded the go signal by instructing participants to inhibit their planned response to the go task on that trial. Ninety-one undergraduates were randomly assigned to the three conditions: low approach-motivated positive affect (31, 17 females), high approach-motivated positive affect (30, 16 females), and neutral (30, 16 females) conditions. One-way ANOVAs demonstrated that the effects of emotional pictures on response execution and inhibition were significant. Scheffe tests revealed that, relative to the neutral condition, response inhibition was faster in low approach-motivated positive affect condition, while response execution was faster in high approach-motivated positive affect condition. In experiment 2, we used typical numerical classification tasks to examine the influence of approach motivational intensity of positive affect on task switching. Eighty-four new undergraduates (48 females) were randomly assigned to three experimental conditions. Participants had to judge whether a digit (1~9, excluding 5) was smaller or larger than five (smaller–larger task) or whether it was odd or even (odd–even task). We used either a square or diamond frame with sides that were 4.8 cm in length as task cues to indicate the smaller–larger task or odd–even task, respectively. Repeated measures ANOVAs on reaction time and error rate showed that low approach-motivated positive affect facilitated switched task, while high approach-motivated positive affect facilitated repeated task. Results also indicated that low approach-motivated positive affect reduced reaction time and error switch costs, whereas high approach-motivated positive affect increased reaction time switch costs. In summary, this research suggests that low approach-motivated positive affect enhances cognitive flexibility, whereas high approach-motivated positive affect enhances cognitive stability. The current research extends previous work on cognitive breadth to cognitive control which partly reflects the temporality of cognitive processes. Taken together, this line of research suggests that the effects of positive affect on cognitive processes are modulated by its approach motivational intensity.

QR Codes and Traditional Beadwork: Augmented Communities Improvising Together

QR Codes and Traditional Beadwork: Augmented Communities Improvising Together

Plate shape and colour interact to influence taste and quality judgments

Research has demonstrated that factors external to the food source can influence consumers’ perceptions of food. Contextual factors including cutlery or tableware (for example, size and composition), the atmosphere (for example, noise levels and odours), and packaging (for example, shape and colour) have all been shown to influence the perceptual experience. Plateware has also been shown to influence taste perception since ratings of a dessert (strawberry mousse) were modified by plate colour but not by plate shape. In the current study, which used a 2 × 2 between-subjects design, the effect of plate colour (black versus white) and plate shape (round versus square) on taste perception is re-examined. Through sweetness, intensity, quality, and liking ratings of cheesecake, the current study extends the previous investigation to include an examination of the plate colour by plate shape interaction while using plates with more angular corners. Judgments made on simple elemental properties (sweetness and flavour intensity) and higher level compound property judgments (food quality or food liking) were shown to be differentially influenced by the interaction of plate colour and plate shape. Both elemental and compound property judgments were heightened by white round plates while compound judgments were also increased when food was presented on black square plates. The results suggest that plate colour and shape influence taste perception but not in a straight-forward manner and instead the influence depends on the interaction of the two variables. Depending on which attribute of the perceptual experience is more important, knowledge of this interaction could be used advantageously by the culinary community.